Colombia, a country with almost 4,000 km of coastline, has become an attractive destination for cruise ships in recent years, both in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
In 2022, the ports of Cartagena, San Andrés and Providencia, Santa Marta, Bahía Solano, Golfo de Morrosquillo, Sapzurro, Capurganá, Utría, and Gorgona received more than 173,651 passengers from 27 cruise lines. However, according to ProColombia, 159,196 passengers arrived in the first three months of 2023.
“The growth of this market has been significant considering that Colombia went from having 53 port calls in 2006 to 145 in 2022. Likewise, the country has ports with the capacity to receive luxury and exploration cruise lines such as San Andrés and Providencia, Santa Marta, Utría, Bahía Solano and Gorgona.
The Vice Minister of Tourism, Arturo Bravo, added: “We have also increased the number of destinations with operations, because in addition to the traditional places, last year ports such as Sapzurro, Capurganá and the Gulf of Morrosquillo were incorporated, which, for the first time, received a cruise ship.”.
“According to the study ‘Economic Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the Destination Economies,’ which focuses on average spending per passenger and crew member, the impact of this activity in Colombia by 2023 is estimated at approximately US$25 million. The study also indicates that a passenger spends around US$122 per day in Colombian ports, while a crew member spends US$70. Furthermore, a report by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) highlighted that six out of ten cruise passengers return to the destinations they have visited on a cruise,” explained the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
Furthermore, according to Carmen Caballero, president of ProColombia, the first luxury river cruises will be inaugurated in 2024, sailing along the Magdalena River and operated by AmaWaterways. Their ships, the AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodía, will set sail on March 30 and June 19, respectively, with two itineraries: Magic of Colombia and Wonder of Colombia, which will visit Cartagena, Barranquilla, Mompox, El Banco, Calamar, Magangué, Santa Bárbara de Pinto, Nueva Venecia, and Palenque.
